Engine-starter.



W. T. PHEANlS.

ENGINE STARTER.

APPLICATION. HLED AUGJ-ih 19x5.

1 1.75 1 v Patented Mar. M, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET muwmbo o W. T. PHEANIS.

ENGINE STARTER.

Arms/111011 1111.0 AUG. 14. 1915,

PatentQd Mar. 1 1, 1916.

3 SHEETS SHEET 2.

W. .T. PHEANIS.

ENGiNE STARTER.

APPLICATION nuzo AU'G.14. 191s Patented Mar. 14,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET a mwmw ENGINESTJlRTER.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

epplicetion filed August is, 1915:. Serial No. 45,522.

3/15 whom it may concern."

it own that if WXLLIAM 'l. PHEA- Jen of the United States, residing est l llkton in. the county of Preble and of Ohio have invented certain new ul improvements in Engine-Startiich the following is a specification. nvcntion. relates to new and useful cements starting mechanisms for r at combustion engines, the primary ."1 of my invention being the provision mechanical starting device for the enselfpropelled vehicles, particularly easu vehicles of such character.

or a c the internal combustion enof automobiles are commonly started means of a hand crank having a detach- :lutch connection. with the forward end 'nk shaft of the engine. This 1arting engines is not only difan inconvenient but also dangerous detrimental to the engine itself. The of the starting crank oftentimes hates the driver standing in snow or while starting the engine and, furthermrc. C(Jllelfl able muscular effort is required, p; icularly in starting high powered engin s. if the crank shaft is not i nod rapidly enough, the engine is apt to tire and cause serious injury to the cranking it as well as possible ino the ca ine. Furthermore, it is oftentimes iinpo siale to prevent racing of the on in'zmediately after starting it as the control the throttle and spark is. of so, located near the drivers seat and out c of reach of the driver when he is at the front of the :rnachine. This idle racing of the engine not only wasteful of fuel, but alsoapt to be detrimental to the engine.

i. ition is to construct a starting mech- .m of such a character that it may be conveniently and easily operated from the drivers seat, but one hand and foot being required to operate the entire starting mechanism and the driver, therefore. being able to immediately control the speed of his englue when starts. l further object of my invention is construct the starting mechanism that ll be automatically thrown out of operion the engine starts and to so o ion its parts that considerable leverbtained. thereby permitting more mg of the crank shaft and so dethese reasons a still further object of creasing the likelihood of batik firingof the engine.

With these andother objects in view, my

'invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a motor vehicle, parts being broken away to show m start ing mechanism applied; Fig. 2 is a side elevational View of my starting mechanism, portions of the vehicle being shown in dotted lines to more fully disclose the location of the various parts of the device; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational I View, partiallyv in secti'om of the structure shown in F ig.'2, upon an enlarged scale; Fig. 4 is a top 'plan view of the starting mechanism, a portion of the driving clutch being shown in section;

clutch and its controlling pedal; Fig. 6 is an unassembled perspective view of a compound pawl member employed in my start ing mechanism; Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on the line-77 of Fig. 3.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indi cated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In order to clearly disclose the application and operation of my invention I haveillustrated it as applied to a conventional form of automobile, indicated by the numeral 10 and having the usual internal combustion engine 1.1, the crank shaft 12 of which ex tends into Mounted upon the forward end of the crank shaft 12, is a pair of co-acting clutch collars 13 and 14 which. together, constitute the driving element by means of which power is imparted to the crank shaft. The abutting faces of these clutch collars are provided with the usual bevel faced clutch teeth 15 for interlocking engagement with each other. and the collar 13 is formed intermediate its length with a-peripheral groove or channel 16 to receive a roller 17 carried by the fork arms of a shipper lever 28 which is pivcted atits free end to a bracket 19 secured to the frame of the vehicle. the lever extending transversely of the vehicle. The clutch collar 13' is free for longitudinal movement along the crank shaft 12 of the engine, but is secured to;.such shaft to turn Patented Mar. is, rare.

the. forward portion of the hood.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the driving" therewith by a key 20 or other suitable means. The clutch collar i l, at its outer end, is provided with a bevel. gear 21 which meshes with a bevel pinion 22- keyed'or otherwise secured upon one end of a countershaft 23 which extends transversely of the vehicle'and which is journaled in suitable bearings 24 carried by the frame of the vehicle. This shaft, at its opposite end, can ries a pinion which 'meshes with a spur gear 26 freely mounted upon astub shaft 27 journaled in a bearing 28. It will, there fore, be seen that any rotation of the spur gear 26 will be transmitted through the pinion and bevel gears 22 and 21 to the crank shaft 12 if the clutch collars 13 and 14 are in interlocking engagement with each other.

As a'means for moving the clutch collars into and out of engagement with each other, I provide a link 29 which is pivotally connected at one end to the intermediate portion of the lever 18 and at its opposite end to one arm of a bell crank lever 30 which is pivotally supported by the frame of the vehicle. The shank 31 of a foot pedal 32 passes throughthe floor of the car at a point convenient to the drivers seat and is pivotally connected to the opposite arm of the bell crank lever 30, this shank being passed through a U-shaped supporting bracket 33 secured to the lower face of the floor of the can The pedal is normally held in raised position by a helical spring 34 engaging the bracket 33 at one end and the lower face of the pedal at the other and, in raised position, the pedal holds the clutch collar 13 out of engagement with the clutch collar 14.

A- depression of the pedal against the ten.

sion of the spring 34 will, therefore, result inthrowing the clutch collars into locklng engagement with each other, although the collars will immediately move out of such 1 and the peripheral Wall about this recess is formed with ratchet teeth 36 concentrically disposed with respect to the shaft 27. Supported upon the shaft 27 and loosely mounted thereon, is a pawl carrying block 37. T his block is disposed within the recess of the gear 26 and is formed at its opposite ends with grooves or recesses 38 forming seats for the cylindrical head portions 39 of swinging pawl carrying arms 40. As best shown in Fi 3 and G of the drawings, these heads and theseats 38 are so proportioned that the heads are snugly journaled in the seatsand the arms still free for con sidcrable swinging movement, although they can be disengaged from. the block 37 only by outward lI OVQmlIIi/ through the open nds of the seats These seats are closed at one end and when the device is assembled, the block is mounted upon the shaft 2'? in such a manner that the body portion of the gear 26 in itself serves as a closure for the other ends of the seats, as clearly shown. in Fig. 7. Each of the arms i0 is substan tially sector-sl'iaped including spaced parallel blade portions ll which extend radially with respect to the shaft 27.

Secured to the vehicle frame, at a, point below the floor of the car, is a guide loop 42 or bracket through which is reciprocally mounted a slide 43. Rods 44: and 45 are bent laterally at one end and passed through the forward end of this slide and threaded to, receive nuts 46 and the opposite ends of these rods are similarly bent and passed through the end portions of the blades 41 of the pawl carrying arms 40 and secured by nuts t? which seat in recesses formed in the outer faces of the inner blades, as shown in Fig. 7. Pivotally mounted between the blades 41 of the pawl carrying arms 40, are the pawls -13 and 49, the rear end of the former pawl being adapted to engage the ratchet teeth 36 near the upper portion of the gear 26, while the forward end of the latter pawl is adapted to engage the ratchet teeth near the lower portion of the gear. These pawls are pivotally supported by the pawl carrying arms upon the terminals of the rods 4% and 45 which are passed through such arms, thereby doing away with the necessity of additional pivots. Furthermore,

it should be noted that these pawls are of such a character as to be constantly heldin engagement withv the ratchet teeth through gravity. A movementof the carriage 43 in a forward direction will cause a forward swinging of the free-ends of both pawl carrying arms 40, with the result that the lower pawl 49 will force thegear 26 in a counterclockwise direction, looking at the gear from the direction shown in Figs. 2

and 3 of the drawings, while the upper pawl 48 will ride idly over the teeth. Upon reversing the direction of movement of the carriage 4E3, the upper pawl will actively engage the teeth to continue the rotation of the gear in the same direction, while the lower pawl will ride idly over the teeth. It will, therefore, be seen that a reciprocation of the carriage 43 will result in imparting a coin tinuous rotary movement, in one direction, to the gear 26.

A hand lever 50 extends through-a slot in the floor of the car and at its lower end is pivoted to the frame, as shown at 51. This hand lever is provided ii'itermediate its length with a longitudinal slot 52 which receives a pin 5 extending from the carriage 43. It will, therefore, beclear that oscillation of the hand lever 50 will result in re ciprocation of the carriage 43.

In use, assuming that the various control levers of the engine are properly set, the driver, while still in his seat, presses one foot upon the pedal to bring the clutch collars into locking engagement with each other remove his foot from the lever and, with his foot still upon'the pedal, oscillates the hand lever 50, This oscillation of the hand lever reciprocates the carriage s8 and, consequently, imparts a continuou ro tar-y movement to the gear 26 and from this gear through the countershaft 23 to the crank shaft 12 of the engine. As soon as the engine starts, this crank shaft will revolve at a higher rate oi speed than it is possible for the operator to turn the countershaft 23,,with the result that the clutch colclear that the spark and throttle levers may be readily manipulated as soon as the engine starts to prevent racing of the engine; The leverage obtained by the above described mechanism is such that the crank shaft may be manually rotated at a higher rate of speed than the ordinary driver of an automobile is capable of rotating it with. the customary hand crank now in use, As a result there is very little likelihood of back firing.

It will of course; he understoodthat although I have illustrated and described my startina' mechanism in. all its details, I reie some of the appended claims, at any act without in the slightest rig from His spirit of my invention.

loving thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. in a starting the c ank shaft oi an engine, of coasting clui. h collars mounted upon the shalt. one

l'iein r freely mounteid u )Oll the shaft and the other to turn thcrcwith lbut capable of movement long:trdinallv toyvard and away from the first, a shipper leve engaging the second i'oechsnism for interna combustion engines, the combination with collar, a foot pedal operatively connected to the lever, means normally holding the foot pedal, in position to hold the second collar out of engagement with the first, a gear can ried by the first collar, a countershaft, a gear carried by the countershaft and meshing with the gear of the collar, and means for rotating the countershaft;

2. A ratchet mechanism for engine starters including a shaft a rotar I power transmitting member mounted on the shaft and formed in one side with a recess, the peripheral wall of which is formed with ratchet teeth,- a pawl supporting member loosely mounted on the shaft, oppositely extending pawl carrying arms swingii'igegly supported" by such member, reversely disposed pawls mounted upon the arms, and means for swinging the arms toward each other, first in one direction and then in the other.

3. A.ratchetmechanism forengine starters including a shaft, arotary power transmit ting member mounted formed in one side with a recess the peripheral wall of which is formed with ratchet teeth a pawl supporting member loosely mounted on the shaft, oppositely extending pawl carrying arms swingingly supported by such member, reversely disposed pawls mounted upon the arms. rods pivotally con necteli to the arms, a hand lever, and operative connection between the hand lever and fr'ee ends of the rods.

we the right to make any. chan es within .,v i i b 1 degree depart- A ratchet mechanism for engine starters including a shaft, arotary power transmitting member mounted on the shaft and formedlin one side with a recess,the peripln eral wall of which is formed with ratchet teeth, a pawl supporting member loosely mountt'd on t e shalt, opposite y extending pawl (iri-ying arms swingingly supported by suci meinlber, r verscly disposed .pawls inounte d upon the arms, rods pivotally con nected to the arms. a

hand lever; and operative cmnection between free ing' a the Ti) the sli ie and extending through a slot in the intermediate portion of tl e hand levtr;

In testimon whereof I aiiix my signature.

illililliM T. PHEANIS. EL.

'e'ciprorally mounted slide to which is are pivoted, and a pin carried bv on the shaft and hand lover such is oi the rods said connection. HlCllZCi 

